Israeli Diplomats in Africa

November 29, 1976

JERUSALEM (Nov. 28)

Despite the mass severing of diplomatic relations with Israel by Black African states after the Yom Kippur War, Israel maintains diplomatic representation in Africa. This emerged over the weekend in a wire service dispatch quoting Ariel Aran, Israeli Consul General in Montreal, as saying he would soon take up a post in Abidjan, Ivory Coast as Israeli interest officer at the Belgian Embassy there. It was learned here that such Israeli officers serve in a large number of African countries. Although the arrangement is not widely publicized, it is a matter of routine.